Unnatural
by Flyingsong
Summary: Aya is Graced, and was a slave of Leck's since her parent's murder. Now Leck's dead, and Aya has fled over the eastern mountains to The Dells. After being shot down by Nash's son, Brendan, Aya is brought to Fire, who has suspicions over Aya's intentions..
1. Prologue

Hi all! This isn't my first fanfic, but I absolutely LOVE Graceling and Fire. So this little idea came into my head.

Disclaimer: I do not own Graceling or Fire. Just my OC's. And this plot.

* * *

**Aya POV**

Tree branches whip my limbs as I sprint through the thick forest. Thorns try hold my back, pricking anywhere my skin shows, but I break through them anyways. I can hear the dogs barking, snarling, determined to catch me. Their master has made me their prey. My dress limits my movement, but I have no time to stop. I cannot risk the few seconds it would take to rip the skirt, not with him riding down on me. I won't let my parent's sacrifice go to waste.

An unseen tree root catches my bare foot, and I fall to the ground with a terror-filled cry. I try to scramble back onto my feet, but the dogs have already surrounded me. Their lips are pulled back, revealing long, sharp-looking yellow teeth, slavering jaws. They won't attack unless commanded by their master, but I don't risk attempting to escape. I know he keeps his dogs hungry. I curl up in a ball, it taking all my focus not to burst into tears. I have failed. My parents are dead for nothing.

Hoofbeats thunder behind me, then slow to a stop. My body trembles uncontrollably. The man, the dog's master, my parent's murderer, dismounts and stalks around me until he is facing me. I lift my head slowly, my terrified eyes, one purple, the other cream, connecting with his single grey eye, the other covered by an eyepatch. In a flash, I remember this man arriving at my family's little cabin in the woods; my parents pushing me out the back door, still in my nightdress, telling me to run, to fly, to get away; watching as that man traps my parents in the house, setting fire to it, destroying everything I have ever loved.

I remember his name. I remember the warnings my parents gave me about him. About his hidden nature, his hidden Grace.

Leck bends down to my height, opening his arms wide. "Aya," he says, "I've missed you so much, my beloved girl."

* * *

Not a bad prologue, eh? Review please!


	2. Chapter 1: Brendandell

Well, here it is! The first chapter... And IT'S LONG! Sorry it took me so long, but I'm proud of it, and (although it could always be better) I think it's pretty good!

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Except my plot. And Aya.

* * *

Brendan POV

"Get back here Brendan!" my brother, Balder, yells at me, far behind me and Ebony, my horse. I laugh joyously, until I see Hanna catching up to me. "Too slow!" she speeds ahead, only to be reprimanded by Uncle Brigan. I gallop past her, sitting on her horse and scowling, waiting for her father and her step-mother, Aunt Fire, to catch up. I smirk and slow down, circling back around to watch as Hanna glares at her father chastises her. "Rocks, Dad," she yells back, "I'm 36 years old! I'm not a child anymore!" Balder stops next to me, his horse heaving. "Brendandell, I swear you will pay for that defeat," he punches my shoulder. I punch back, "If only you could catch me, Balderdell."

"Enough, you two," Aunt Fire rides over, staring at us with her enchanting green eyes. She may be close to 50 now, but her fiery red hair is still untouched by grey, and her few wrinkles give her face only a sense of wisdom. On her back, she wears a quiver full of arrows and her bow. We all have our weapons on us. My father, King Nash, may have won the war all those years ago, but there are many rebels and bandits who would love to kill us, especially in this remote area my grandmother Roen lives. And, of course, the monsters that want to eat our flesh.

A large, birdlike shadow appears over the plain. Everyone looks up, searching the skies for whatever had made such a shadow. "There," Fire points to a bird across us. It's huge. The wings itself must be 20 feet tip to tip, a dark purple with cream flecks. The white body contrasted against the dark wings could be as long as I am tall. A giant, monster falcon. Balder, Uncle Brigan, Aunt Fire, Hanna, and I all raise our bows, releasing arrow after arrow. A falcon that size would easily kill all of us, especially if it realized Aunt Fire was here. Strangely, though, I don't feel the presence of it's mind trying to ease into mine.

Five arrows plunge into the falcon, two in each wing and one in the body. It falls, gaining speed, and hits the ground with a dull thud. I race over to it, drawing my sword if needed to kill it. The others follow, but Ebony outraces them easily. I ride up next to the bird, raising my sword to finish it. But I freeze. This is no monster bird. This is a woman. A woman with cream and indigo hair, wings, one purple eye, and one cream eye. She stares at me for a moment, her gaze flickering from fear, outrage, and pain, and clutches her injured side, where my arrow sticks out, before her eyes roll back in her head and she fall to the ground in unconsciousness.

"Rocks," whispers Hanna behind me. I hadn't even noticed that the others had caught up. My sword hangs loosely at my side. Uncle Brigan dismounts and bends down next to the woman. "We have to get something to stop the bleeding," he says, obviously shaken by the sight of a person with wings. No, a monster woman with wings. No one with that color hair, eyes, and wings could be normal. It shouldn't be possible. It's... It's unnatural. And her eyes... What kind of person has different colored eyes?

Aunt Fire stares at the woman and reaches out for our minds. _Why?_ she thinks, to shocked to speak. I_ was supposed to be the last. Where did she come from?_ "It doesn't matter," replies Balder aloud, retrieving the bandages from inside his saddlebags. "We need to get her to Grandmother's fortress before her blood attracts more monsters." He pulls out the arrows from her wings, but the woman barely flinches in her unconsciousness. I hop off Ebony, and wrap her side up tightly. "I'll take her." Balder opens his mouth to protest, but I cut him off. "Ebony is the fastest horse, and you know it. We're only 20 minutes from the fortress, 10 if I ride by myself. Besides," I glance over to where Aunt Fire was sitting numbly on her horse, Small, "We need more people to protect Aunt right now." Balder thinks for a moment, then nods. Uncle Brigan reaches for Aunt Fire's hand and squeezes it, trying to comfort her.

I mount Ebony, then carefully take the woman from Uncle Brigan's arms. It's awkward holding her with the large wings outstretched, but I adjust her until they hang over one of Ebony's sides. I take the reins with one hand, supporting the woman with the other, and quickly kick Ebony into a gallop. I quickly leave Uncle Brigan, Aunt Fire, Balder, and Hanna in the dust, but my mind is whirling. Who is this woman? Why is she here? Why does she have wings? It's only when I'm near Grandmother's fortress that I wonder why I never told the others about her eyes.

* * *

Well? What did you think? Review please!


	3. Chapter 2: Aya

OMG. This is LONG! It might be too long. What do you think?

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. Except Aya, Brendan, Balder, and the plot.

* * *

Aya POV

Pain. Utter pain as my consciousness comes back to me. With a moan I open my Graceling eyes. Dull, throbbing pain surrounds my left side, and in both of my wings. I lay in a soft bed, covered by a thick blanket. Sweat, grass, and dirt stick to he parts of my body left uncovered by bandages. Slowly, I push myself up into sitting position, and look around at my surroundings. It's a small room, made out of gray stone bricks, with a window covered with grating on the wall to my left, and a wooden door on the right. A chair sits in the corner, with a dull brown frock over it. What happened? Where am I?

Images slowly return to my mind. I was flying over the great mountains east of Monsea. Then, a field below me, where five riders raced. Five arrows struck me, sending me down, down, down, falling, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. A face. Blue eyes set in a strong, rugged face, shaggy brown hair whipping in the wind while he sits on a black horse, his sword hanging by his side. Eyes filled with horror, looking at me like I was a monster. Then... Nothing.

I had been shot down by those people, and that man was going to finish the job. But, instead, I was here, at some place that shouldn't exist. Nothing was supposed to exist beyond the eastern mountains. Of course, I shouldn't exist either. A Graceling with wings. As if having two different colored eyes wasn't horrific enough. There's me, with short cream hair and indigo tips, and wings, purple with white flecks. And my eyes, purple and cream. No other person has ever had a Grace that manifested itself in a physical form, that changed the human body so much. That man was right to look at me like I was a monster. That's what I am.

The door opens, and four people enter the room, all weighed down by bows and arrows, swords and knives. I look each of them over with a careful eye. There is three men and a woman. She is beyond beautiful. Her long hair cascades down her back, looking like fire. Her emerald eyes shimmer, and her dress shows her gorgeous body off. The wrinkles on her face show her age, but only make her look wise. Her face is foreign yet seems familiar to me all the same. The older man next to her had grey hair still speckled with the brown of his youth. His pale eyes flickered from my face and back to the lady. His hand slowly moved to his sword hilt. The boys moved to either of my sides. They looked so similar that they could be brothers, with the same long brown hair and rugged face. The only difference between them was their eyes, the one on my left having dark brown eyes, while the other had blue. That man I recognized him as the man who had come to kill me, but no emotion stirs in me. In this condition, I would be unable to defeat any of them.

"What is your name?" growls the older man. It's obvious that he doesn't trust me, yet he is still willing to meet my eyes, unlike the people in Monsea. I clear my throat, and glare at him. "Aya. Who are you?" I may be indebted to them for not killing me, but I don't have to like it. Especially if they're anything like the kings back home. "My name is Brigan," he replies. "This is my wife, Fire, and my nephews Balder and Brendan." All of them nod at me at mention at their names. So this Brendan wanted to kill me. After I'm healed, I'll kill him first.

"Aya, could you tell us where you're from?" Brigan continued "Give us your story."

"And why should I? You are all complete strangers to me, and I do remember Brendan here preparing to kill me." I point and turn my glare towards him. He shifts uncomfortably under my gaze. Fire walks over and pushes my arm back down. "Listen, little girl," she says harshly, "We know of your kind. One of you named Leck came here once." I start at the sound of that name. "Leck? King Leck?" my voice cracks. Brigan pulls Fire back over to him and kindly says, "Please, tell us your story." I look around at the people around me. Something tells me I can trust them, that they know of hardship just as well as I do. I nod slowly, take a deep breath and begin.

"I was born in a kingdom called Monsea, across the mountains west of here. I was born a Graceling, someone with an extreme gift. I have the Grace of flight, but it manifested itself as wings. As soon as I emerged from my mother's womb, my parent's knew I was Graced, for between my shoulder blades lay two small, wet wings covered in soft down. When my eyes opened, they had already settled into the colors you see today. All Gracelings are supposed to be given into the king's service once their eyes settle, but my parents hated our king, Leck. My mother somehow could tell he was more than he said. It was almost as if she could read his mind. So, when I was only a few weeks old, we packed up and moved to a shack in the woods to escape from King Leck.

"My mother was... amazing. She was the most beautiful woman in the world, with long hair as golden as fields of wheat. Her blue eyes were brighter than the sky itself. She was more graceful than the deer in the woods, and kind to everything and everyone. She had a knack for being able to know exactly what you were thinking, sometimes even before you knew it. My father, on the other hand, was a plain man, except for his eyes. He was also Graced, but a minor one of being able to speak to birds, and his eyes were so similar a grey in color that nobody knew he was Graced. But he was so loyal to my mother and I, and did everything he could to protect us.

"When I was ten, the birds began to talk of a fearsome man in the woods, with a pack of dogs at his feet. His words confused the birds, and he wore a patch over one eye. My parents, fearing that it was King Leck, and that he had found out about me, sent me away in the middle of the night. I would have flown, but I had never flown for more than a few minutes, and it would have immediately drawn Leck to me. So I ran into the woods, and when I looked back, my house was on fire. Somehow I knew my parents were in there, but I could not go back. The dogs were on me, and then Leck found me. He brought me to his court, and for eight years, I was his personal spy, kept like an animal. His words hurt my head, confused me, kept me from attacking him and revenging my parents. He was so sure I was under his control, he had me trained by all the best weapons-masters. I became an assassin.

"A couple days ago, news came to the court saying that Leck was dead, and that he had been Graced with lying. My mind slammed back into clear-headedness and I ran away from court. I could not stay and be a tool for whatever new, corrupt ruler took his place. I flew away from Monsea, towards the mountains east of it, planning to go to the supposedly uninhabited land beyond it, to live out the rest of my cursed life. The next thing I know, I'm being shot down by five riders that shouldn't exist. And now I'm here."

My eyes still prickled with tears that had came during my story. Everyone was now sitting down or leaning against walls. My body shook with the fear, hatred, horror, sadness, so many emotions that came to me as I told my sad story. I had never been able to recount that much during Leck's reign in my mind. And now that I was able to, it took all of my strength not to just break down and sob.

Fire came and sat next to me, gently taking my hand in hers. "Dear girl," she said, looking into my eyes with a sadness of her own, "I owe you an apology. You are just as much a victim of that evil boy as I am." "That still doesn't explain her looks," Balder pondered to my left. "You see, in this land, called The Dells, there are animals who have the shape of any normal animal, but have colors as varied from midnight blue to sunset red. They are incredibly beautiful, but can be very vicious. They also can read and control minds. You, miss, have the colors of a monster, yet you are not overwhelmingly beautiful." "Nor can you read or control minds," Fire interrupted. "I am a human monster, but when I try to read your mind, there's nothing. Not like your blocking me, but like you have no mind. Of course, you do though." Her face becomes crossed with worry and concentration, but it soon passes. "But you must rest. We can ponder this later." Fire stands up, taking Brigan's hand and helping him up. "We shall talk later. But for now, rest, Aya. We will take care of you." "Thank you," I nod. She and Brigan leave arm in arm, with Balder following close behind. Brendan lags behind, and I stare at him. He seems uncomfortable under my scrutiny, and is about to say something, when he raises his head and our eyes connect. I feel a blush rise to my cheeks, and we both look away quickly. Quietly, he says, "I never meant to harm a lady. I am sorry. I hope you feel better soon." He quickly walks out and closes the door behind him.

I collapse back onto the bed and turn onto my side. How strange, to think that people live here. And monsters. Fire seems kind enough, but I still do not trust the others. _But one thought echoes through my mind. How can I have the colors of a monster, when the Seven Kingdoms have not a single one?_

_

* * *

_Ok yea so not great, but it's up! Review please!


End file.
